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{{B}}Orbital Space Plane{{/B}} While scientists are searching the cause of the Columbia disaster, NASA is moving ahead with plans to develop a new craft that would replace shuttles on space station missions by 2012 and respond quickly to space station emergencies. The space agency released the first set of mission needs and requirements several days ago for the orbital space plane, which would be designed to transport a crew of four to and from the International Space Station. Although it includes few specifics, the plan stipulates the orbiter will be safer, cheaper and require less preparation time than the shuttle. It would be able to transport four crew members by 2012 - though it would be available for rescue missions by 2010. NASA says the craft should be able to transport injured or ill space station crew members to "definitive medical care" within 24 hours. The release of the requirements showed NASA remains focused on the long-term priorities of space exploration, even as questions linger concerning the loss of Columbia and its seven-member crew on February 1, 2003. Experts at Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama, have been working for years on a successor to the shuttle. The project, known as the Space Launch Initiative, was divided last year into two parts - one focusing on a future launch vehicle, the other on a space station orbiter. The orbiter is expected to be ready sooner. The program's managers say NASA officials have told them not to alter Space Launch Initiative in light of the Columbia disaster. US President George W. Bush asked Congress for about US$1 billion for Space Launch Initiative in 2004, funds that would be almost equally split between the Orbital Space Plane and Next Generation Launch Technology. |